Tubeless pneumatic tire and method of making same



Jan. 8, 1,957 R, W. KINDLE ET Al. 2,776,699

TUBEEEss PMEUMATIC TIRE AND METHOD 0E MAKING SAME Filed om. 1e, 195s BY Myx? .AGENT United States Patent() TUBELESS PNEUMATIC TIRE AND METHOD F MAKING SAME Robert W. Kindle, Detroit, and John J. Fleming, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., assignors to United States Rubber l("Jompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New ersey Application October 16, 1953, Serial No. 386,552

1 Claim. (CI. 154-14) preferably from 0.5 to 5%.

sulfur-doning curatives, as well as to a method of making as an impermeable envelope for the air within the tire,

in place of the usual inner tube. The composition and manufacture of such a lining material for tubeless tires has up to the present time presented a serious difficulty in the manufacture of satisfactory tubeless tires, because Y the materials proposed for this purpose have all had certain shortcomings, either from the standpoint of preparation or performance, or both. This situation arises because there are a number of exacting requirements that must be met in a practical tubeless tire liner, and those skilled in this art have not up to the present time been able'to work out an entirely satisfactory process and composition. No obvious solution to the problem has been forthcoming because the lining material, besides being sufiiciently impermeable to air to permit the tire to be used for reasonable periods without requiring reinfiation, must also have sufficient adhesiveness to remain securely united tothe inner surface of the tire casing, which is usually made of a composition based mainly on natural rubber or such synthetic rubbers as GR-S. At the same time, it is essential that the liner have good physical properties, so that it does not heat up or deteriorate in use and so that it does not tend to develop cracks under the influence of the repeated severe flexing that it is subjected to in use. In additiomthe liner must have good building tack and form secure splices.

The requirement that the liner stock shall noty crack in use has been particularly difficult to fulfill satisfactorily, and as a result many premature failures have been noted in conventional tubeless `tires consequent `to the fact that air under pressure passes through such cracks from the interior of the tire into the interstices of the carcass plies, where it expands under the influence of the elevated temperatures developed'in use, therebycausing separation and failure of the reinforcing plies. This type of failure commonly manifests itself as a blowout that occurs suddenly and without warning, to the peril of the occupants of the vehicle on which the tire is used.

Accordingly, the principal object 'of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire embodying a liner material that obviates the difficulties experienced with prior art tubeless tires.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method of making a tubeless tire liner material that can be carried out eiciently and economically in the plant.

The manner in which the invention accomplishes the foregoing objects, las well .as additional! objects and adice vantages, will be made manifest in the` following detailed description, which is intended to be read with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which represents in transverse cross section a typical tubeless tire made in accordance with the invention.

The invention contemplates provision of a liner composition for tubeless tires based on the butyl type of synthetic rubber, that is, a low temperature rubber copolymerizate of an isoolefin such as isobutylene with a conjugated diolefn such as isoprene or butadiene. synthetic elastomers are made by well known methods, usually from isoolefins having from 4 to 6 carbon atoms and conjugated diolefms having from 4 to 8 carbon atoms, the proportion of combined diolefin in the copolymer usually being within the range of 0.5 to 10%, and more Butyl rubber has the advantage of providing the desired good air retention, but it cannot be used of itself as a practical liner material because it is not compatible with natural rubber or the synthetic type rubbers used in tire carcasses, and therefore an all-butyl liner stock has very poor adhesion to the tire carcass stock, or even to the tire fabrics treated with the usual adhesives, that are commonly based on natural or synthetic rubber latex .containing a small amount of phenolaldehyde resin. i

If it is attempted to render the butyl rubber adhesive to the tire carcass by incorporating natural rubber or such synthetic rubbers as GR-S (butadiene-styrene copolymer) with the` butyl, the results are entirely unsatisfactory because of the non-homogeneous nature of such a mixture. The incompatibility between the butyl rubber and the other rubber manifests itself in extremely poor physical properties, so that such a mixture has no utility. Such blends cannot be successfully vulcanized because the natural rubber or GR-S rubber in the blend combines with the available curvatives in the mixture.

The present invention is based upon the unexpected discovery that if the butyl rubber is first modified by reacting it, under critical conditions, with critical, small amounts of sulfur or certain sulfur-doning materials, the butyl rubber is converted into a condition in which it is apparently readily compatible with natural rubber or GR-S, yielding a blend that is capable of developing good physical properties upon vulcanization, and that adheres unusually well to the usual tire carcass materials. The required chemical modification of the butyl rubber may be effected by the use of sulfur alone, or the sulfur may be employed in connection with an ultra-accelerator capable of donating sulfur or such sulfur-doning material may be used alone. The ultra-accelerators referred to are the conventional ultra-accelerators of sulfur vulcanization, and these materials are well known to those skilled in the art, and are typified by the thiuram accelerators, e. g.,' thetetraalkylthiuram monosuldes or disulfides, especially tetrarnethylthiuram disulfide; the dithiocarbamate accelerators, e. g., the zinc, tellurium or selenium dialkyl dithiocarbamates, dibenzyl dithiocarbamate `or N-pentamethylene dithiocarbamate.

l erably employ from about 25 to 75 parts of carbon black Such sired chemical modification proceeds to the required critical extent when the mixture is masticated for a time ranging from 3 minutes at 400 F. to 60 minutes at 300 F., and preferably for to 30 minutes at 350375 F. It is a characteristic of this treatment that the chemical action of the sulfur or ultraaccelerator or both on the butyl rubber is substantially exhausted. The thus-modified butyl may be regarded as theoretically cured to a limited extent (sometimes called "sco1'ched"), but it is in no sense a real vulcanizate within the ordinarily accepted meaning of this term because it is still readily proccssiblc, and it is still definitely an unsaturated material susceptible of vulcanization or cure by the action of suitable added curatives.

It is desired to emphasize, as indicated previously, that the treating conditions (i. e., the amount of curative and thetime and temperature of the reaction) are so selected that the treated butyl rubber is not truly a vulcanizate but is still a readily processible, unsaturated and curable material. if the treated butyl rubber were actually vulcanized, within the ordinary meaning of this term, it would of course be an elastic, essentially unprocessible material.

After the modifying step, the batch is usually discharged on a mill and sheeted out. The mix gives a smooth sheet on the mill and can be handled in the same way as a butyl-carbon black master batch of this type. No further processing or treatment of the butyl rubber is necessary.

The next essential step in the method of the invention is to mix the thus-modified butyl rubber with another type of rubber, preferably corresponding to the kind of rubber predominating in the tire carcass stock, which is usually either natural rubber or GR-S rubber, the natural rubber being preferred. The desired physical properties are provided by mixing from 45% to 75% of the butyl rubber hydrocarbon with correspondingly from 55% to 25% of the other rubber. At this stage, there is preferably mixed in additional carbon black, usually amounting to from 25 to 75 parts, per 100 parts of the other rubber. The usual processing aids and conventional vulcanizing ingredients are also added to the mix at this point. Although it is preferable that the rubber that is mixed with the chemically modified butyl be the same rubber as that of the carcass stock, satisfactory results are also obtainable if these rubbers are not the same. For example, a chemically modied butyl may be mixed with GR-S in the liner, for application to a carcass `of natural rubber, or natural rubber may be mixed in the liner to be applied to a GR-S carcass.

Upon vulcanization of a completed stock of this kind, it is surprisingly found that the physical properties of the vulcanizate far exceed those of the butyl rubber compositions that have heretofore been proposed tor use as tubeless tire liners. At the same time, the air retention properties of the stock are excellent and the adhesion of this type of liner compound to carcass stocks and adhesive treated fabrics is superior to the usual butyl compositions.

The following examples will serve to illustrate various aspects of the invention in more detail. ln the examples all parts are expressed by weight.

EXAMPLE l Referring to the drawing, the invention was employed to make a tubcless tire including the usual outer rubber covering l0 constituting the tread and sidewall, beneath which there was disposed the usual carcass 11 composed of a plurality of plies of adhesive-treated cord fabric skim coated with conventional carcass stock based on natural rubber. The tire included the usual inextensible bead elements t?. in the ends `of the carcass, and the under and outer portions of the bead area were provided with a suitable rim sealing arrangement 13. The liner ,composition was applied to the interior surface or band ply Ysurface of the carcass in the form of a sheet 14 .extending from one bead area -to the other, in adhesive contact with the carcass stock, or, if there is no covering of carcass stock on the interior band ply surface, then the liner is in adhesive contact with the cords themselves, bearing the latex-resin adhesive material. The interior crown surface of the liner preferably has applied thereover a layer 15 of puncture-sealing material, that is capable of sealing any holes accidentally made in the tire by puncturing objects such as nails. The method of assembling the foregoing parts in their proper relation and vulcanizing the assembly in the desired shape in a mold is Well understood by those skilled in this art, and requires no detailed description here.

The liner 14 of the invention was made by first compounding the following modified butyl master batch:

Modified butyl master batch GR-l 25 150.00 FEF Carbon Black 75.00 Tuex 0.75

The Tuex was a commercial ultra accelerator composed of tetramethyl thiruam disulfide. The GR-25 was a commercially available type of butyl rubber and it was first intimately mixed with carbon black in a Banbury, after which the Tuex was added and the mixing was continued for 2,0 minutes at a temperature range of from 350 F. to 375 F. The batch was discharge on a mill and sheeted out to give a smooth sheet.

The following final compound was then prepared, employing the fOrCgoing modified butyl master batch:

F nal compound The amount of modified butyl master batch employed corresponds to 150 parts of butyl rubber hydrocarbon. The compound was mixed with the aid of a Banbury mixer yand a roll mill in accordance with the usual practice in preparing a vulcanizable rubber composition. The essential feature of this mixture resides in the combination of the modified butyl with the other rubber, in this case natural rubber in the form of smoked sheet, and the remaining compounding ingredients may be varied at will to provide a typical vulcanizable composition capable of being cured under the conditions customarily employed in molding tires, as will be apparent to the skilled rubber compounder. The mix was formed into a sheet by calendering, and the vliner 14 was applied to the interior of the raw tire carcass before shaping the same. It was observed that the liner had unusually good tack, and could be handled and applied to the tire carcass with ease. The sheet spliced satisfactorily, and adhered well to itself as well as to the carcass. Thereafter, the assembly was shaped and vulcanized in the usual manner. In the course of the vulcanization, the liner became permanently adhered .to the carcass, without the aid of any prey-ions special adhesive treatment or cement.

Samples ,of the liner compound of the invention after curing -in a press for v minutes at 45 pounds o1 steam pressure had the following properties:

In contrast tto these physical properties, a similar mixture employing butyl rubber reclaim in place of the chemically modied butyl rubber employed in the composition of the invention had the following physical properties:

Tensile, p. s. i 580 Percent elongation at break 5 90 Modulus at 300% elongation, p. s. i 215 The superiority of the liner of the invention will be apparent from a comparison of the two foregoing sets of physical properties.

EXAMPLE Il The foregoing example was repeated, except that the butyl rubber was modied with 0.75 part of sulfur, in place of 0.75 part of Tuex. The modication was completed within minutes at 350-375 F. After mixing the thus-modied butyl rubber with natural rubber, and vulcanizing the same as described in Example I, the physical properties of the resulting liner material were essentially the same as those given for the material of Example I.

In order to further demonstrate the superiority of the liner of the present invention, a number of tires can be made ,up with liners similar to that described in the foregoing working examples. The tires can be mounted and inflated to a definite standard pressure and subjected to a standard load, while running against a cleated test wheel at a definite speed. Under the conditions of the test, the tires made in accordance with the invention can run without failure for much longer times than tubeless tires with liners made of a similar composition, but based on butyl inner tube reclaim, instead of on chemically modied butyl rubber in accordance with the invention. Our invention has therefore definitely improved the quality of the tire. In addition to the improved life, the tires embodying the liner of the invention have very little cracking in the liner stock as compared to the liner based on reclaim butyl, which are exceptionally badly cracked.

The improvement realized with the liner composition of the invention is believed to be due at least in part to the fact that the chemical treatment of the butyl rubber under the critical conditions employed in the invention does not result in any powerful residual accelerating yor curing material being present in the butyl. In any event, butyl reclaim, or any butyl rubber that has iirst been substantially cured with the usual vulcanizing agents and accelerators, and thereafter refined to approximate a reclaim, is not capable of providing a liner composition that at once has good splicing qualities and does not crack in use, while being singularly immune to progressive deterioration and undesirable change in physical properties, as the liner compositions made in accordance with the invention are.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A method of making a tubeless tire comprising in cornbination the steps of chemically modifying a raw rubbery copolymer of an isoolen having from 4 to 6 carbon atoms with from 0.5 to 5% of a conjugated diolen having from 4 to 8 carbon atoms by masticating 100 parts of said rubbery copolymer with from 0.5 to 1.5 parts of a modifying agent selected from the group consisting of sulfur, ultraaccelerators of sulfur vulcanization, and mixtures of sulfur with ultra-accelerators of sulfur vulcanization, for from 10 to 30 minutes at a temperature of from 350 to 375 F., the concentration of said modifying agent and the duration and temperature of said modifying treatment being such that the said copolymer substantially retains its original readily processible condition and its loriginal sheet-forming properties instead of being converted into a truly vulcanized, elastic, essentially unprocessible condition, whereby the thus chemically treated copolymer is directly compatible without mill breakdown with natural rubber and butadiene-styrene copolymer rubber, thereafter mixing from 45 to 75% by weight of the thus-modied copolymer directly without mill breakdown with corrrespondingly from to 25% of a rubber selected from the group consisting of natural rubber and butadiene-styrene copolymer rubber and vulcanizing ingredients therefor, applying the resulting composition as an air-retaining liner directly to the entire interior surface of a tire casing from one bead area thereof to the other, said tire casing having a carcass comprising cord fabric coated with a vulcanizable rubber composition selected from the group consisting of natural rubber and butadiene-styrene copolymer, and thereafter vulcanizing the assembly in tire shape, whereby the said liner adheres firmly to the said carcass.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,332,194 Beckley Oct. 19, 1943 2,566,329 Hessney et al Sept. 4, 1951 2,566,384 Tilton Sept. 4, 1951 2,575,249 Connell et al Nov. 13, 1951 2,583,387 Morrissey et al. Ian. 22, 1952 2,676,636 Sarbach Apr. 27, 1954 

